The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)
The Celestial Toymaker 'is the seventh serial of the third season of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Brian Hayles, directed by Bill Sellars and featured William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. Overview To be added Synopsis The TARDIS arrives somewhere outside of Time and Space, in the strange, surreal world of the Celestial Toymaker. The Doctor is made invisible, separated from his companions and forced to play the complex Trilogic game. Steven and Dodo have also been set a series of innocent child-like games; they have to solve riddles and beat the Toymaker's challengers, who include clowns and playing card characters. However, this is the realm of the Toymaker, where not everything or everyone is what or who they seem and the ultimate price for failure is to remain in his world and become his playthings for all eternity... Plot The Celestial Toyroom (1) After getting ready for their next landing, Dodo and Steven are stunned when the Doctor suddenly and inexplicably goes completely invisible, an event that he surmises is some kind of attack and that they're all in grave danger. Steven is skeptical seeing as their still in the TARDIS, but the Doctor states that this elevates the danger of the situation. Looking at the scanner, Steven is unable to see anything and Dodo proposes dematerialises again; however, the Doctor admits he is both invisible and intangible, meaning he can't use the controls and forcing them all to look around. Outside, a man dressed in a strange gown opens a giant doll house and places to clown dolls on the floor, when they grow to inordinate proportions and orders them to greet Steven and Dodo. Stepping out of the TARDIS, the Doctor becomes visible again and Steven becomes intrigued by the strange surroundings. While the Doctor is busy making deductions, Steven spots a screen on a giant robot projecting pictures of him on Kembel and in Paris. The Doctor realises that they've landed in the realm of the Celestial Toymaker and that the screen was merely a hypnotic illusion. He explains that the Celestial Toymaker is a force for evil and the Steven and Dodo mustn't be lured in by him; as he says this, however, the TARDIS disappears and the Toymaker appears in it's place. The Doctor tries to keep his companions attentions away from the Toymaker's machine when he directs their attentions to a mass of police boxes claiming one of them to be the TARDIS. While Steven and Dodo are distracted, the Toymaker snatches the Doctor away. They are suddenly interrupted by the Toymaker's giant clown mannequins who play various tricks on them. The Toymaker reappears and Steven demands the Doctor be returned, but the Toymaker tells him that Steven and Dodo must play his games and win before the Doctor's completes his in order to find the TARDIS. With little choice to the contrary, Steven and Dodo agree to play the games, on the understanding that should they lose, they'll never see the TARDIS again and the Toymaker vanishes. While the clowns prepare Steven and Dodo's games, the Doctor banters words with the Toymaker, demanding that he and his companions be let go; the Toymaker explains that he brought the Doctor to him deliberately because he was bored and wanted some real competition to play with, while Steven and Dodo would become toys if they lost. He admits to luring him out of the TARDIS with the blank scanner and presents the Doctor with what he calls the Trilogic game, wherein he has exactly 1023 moves to win. In spite of his trepidations and strong aversion to playing into the Toymaker's lure, the Doctor relents and agrees to compete to try and get the TARDIS back and save his companions. Meanwhile, Steven and Dodo are led to an elaborate course set up by the clowns for a game of Blind Man's Bluff in which they must make it to the other side of the course blindfolded and make it to the other side without falling. Steven remains to participate with this with one of the clowns, Joey, while Dodo stands aside with the other clown, Clara. The Doctor observes this on the monitor and tries to warn them by intercom, but the Toymaker cuts him off and makes him intangible again, barring one hand with which he must play his game. In the other room, Joey makes it across the course flawlessly and Steven prepares to take his turn with Dodo directing him. Once he's blindfolded, Joey starts to alter the course as Steven tries to get across and, in spite of Dodo trying to correct the directions to suit the new layout, Steven is made to fail by Joey. Dodo is furious and when Steven is presented with Joey's original blindfold, which is completely transparent, making it easy for him to win, Dodo puts a genuine blindfold on him and they force him around again, only for him to fail on the second attempt. Both clowns suddenly fall lifeless on the floor and the TARDIS appears, but Dodo and Steven open it to discover that it's just an empty shell with a riddle on a piece of paper on the floor: "Four legs, no feet; Of arms no lack; It carries no burden on its back; Six deadly sisters, seven for choice; Call the servants without voice." Steven and Dodo disappear into the fake TARDIS, they leave the clowns, now reverted back to dolls, on the floor behind them The Hall of Dolls (2) Steven and Dodo come across another large door with the move counter for the Doctor's game on it and manage to get it open and reveal the room of the next game. The Doctor, meanwhile, continues playing the Trilogic game as the Toymaker points out his companions on the monitor; the Doctor tries to warn them again and the Toymaker silences him as well as making him intangible. Appearing to Steven and Dodo and leaves the Hearts Family behind as opponents for their next game, they try to discern the riddle they found in the last game. They ignore the King and Queen of Hearts and they order the Knave of Hearts and the Joker in and they all, barring the Joker, head off after Steven and Dodo. They wind up in other room with a row of chairs in front of a row of white TARDIS doors. Steven opens one of the doors to find a mass of dolls and use sections of the riddle to figure out how to beat the game. They look at the fourth door and suspect it may be the real TARDIS but fail to get in and discover the Doctor is at least half way through his game. The King and Queen of Hearts soon arrive and explain they were previous players of the Toymaker's games but were trapped on their loss. They each take a doll and Steven and Dodo go to the first room while the King and Queen of Hearts randomly select chairs to test with their dolls. The King of Hearts puts his doll in chair number 7 and it shakes violently when it's head falls off. In the other room, Dodo throws her doll into chair number 3 and it is struck by a strong electric shock. Steven then puts his doll on chair number 1 and it spins around and throws it against a wall and breaks it. Dodo is reluctant to go back into the other room for fear of letting onto the King and Queen of Hearts about the other dolls. Meanwhile, the King places the last doll on chair number 4 and it disappears. The King of Hearts then proposes that they use the Joker on one of the remaining chairs; Steven and Dodo inspect chair number 2 when the King and Queen of Hearts return. While Dodo sneaks into the other room to grab the hidden dolls, the King of Hearts try and trick the Joker into sitting in chair number 2 when Dodo returns and tells them that the cupboard with the other dolls is locked. With no other options, Dodo places herself in chair number 2, which was also the wrong one and she starts to freeze; unable to get herself out of the chair, Steven drags her clear of it. In the other room, the King of Hearts has the Joker tell them that chair number 6 is the safe bet and have him sit in it to test it. However, the Joker refuses and flees the room, followed by the Knave of Hearts. While the King and Queen of Hearts decide to test the chair together it squashes them. Steven sits in the last remaining chair and the TARDIS appears again, but this one is also empty. The Toymaker calls Steven through the fake TARDIS and gives him the clue for the next room: "Hunt the key to fit the door; That leads out on the dancing floor. Then escape the rhythmic beat; Or you'll forever tap your feet." Upon seeing that the King and Queen of Hearts have become playing cards again, Steven and Dodo disappear into the police box, when the remaining dolls emerge from the cupboard and pursue them. The Dancing Floor (3) The Toymaker congratulates Steven and Dodo on their resourcefulness and ability to beat both of his teams thus far and tells the Doctor that they deserve 'a little amusement'. Flicking through a book of a book of fairy tales, the Toymaker picks out Sergeant Rugg and Mrs Wiggs to intercept them. In the next game room, Dodo is startled by the arrival of the dolls from the previous ones; Steven tries to move around them and then rush them, but they avert them and wander into the next room. Steven and Dodo follow them into it where they find Sergeant Rugg and Mrs Wiggs in a large Victorian kitchen. While Dodo examines the door Wiggs directs her too, Steven banters with Rugg and Dodo deduces that the TARDIS must be on the dance floor of the next game. Rugg gets increasingly on Steven's nerves so Dodo make a charm appeal to him instead and he gives them the hint that divulges the game as 'Hunt the Thimble" with the key to the door. Elsewhere, the Doctor continues his game with the Toymaker, who is dissatisfied with the speed of his progress. In the kitchen, Steven and Dodo hunt around for the key and Wiggs soon starts to get aggravated with her kitchen being dismantled and loses her temper at all three of them, Rugg included. While they continue rooting around all the cupboards, Rugg breaks a plate and he and Wiggs start arguing violently, so much so that the kitchen boy is woken by the disruption and he hides under the table. Steven and Dodo keep looking for the key while Rugg and Wiggs throw food at each other. While Dodo tries to stop the fighting, the kitchen boy tries to flee; Steven tries to coax the kitchen boy into telling him where the key is, but he escapes and hides. In the chaos, Dodo and Steven find the key concealed in a pie and leave the kitchen. The Toymaker arrives and is infuriated by Rugg and Wiggs' behaviour and orders them to keep the Doctor's companions from reaching the TARDIS. On the dance floor, Dodo and Steven find the dolls from the earlier game room blocking their way to the TARDIS by dancing in front of it. Steven discovers the music is tied to their interactions with the floor when Rugg and Wiggs arrive. Steven steps onto the dance floor and is compelled into participating in the dance with the dolls, unable to stop himself. As the Doctor moves closer and closer to his 1023rd move, Steven tries to escape the doll's grip and Dodo tries to get him out but is compelled into the dance also. Wiggs steps onto the dance floor while Rugg plans to make a break for the TARDIS. At the exchange of partners, Rugg is caught by one of the dolls and Dodo and Steven are paired together, managing to break the rhythm as the riddle stated and rush to the TARDIS, only to find it yet another fake. Inside, Dodo and Steven discuss the authenticity of the Toymaker's players while Rugg and Wiggs shrink back into dolls outside. Having seen this, the Toymaker starts to throw his dolls away on the grounds that they have too much humanity to emulate and thus sends a schoolboy doll as the next player. In the box, Steven and Dodo manage to find the clue to next game as the door to the next room opens: "Lady luck will show the way; win the game or here you'll stay." As they traipse into the next hallway, Dodo is startled by the appearance of Cyril, who scares her with a toy spider. Cyril takes great pleasure in trying to joke with them and, when Dodo finds the Doctor's play count is at 902, Cyril directs them to the next game, wherein he is to be their opponent The Final Test (4) The final game is "TARDIS hopscotch", where they have to roll a dice and jump the number of triangles to get to the end. In the Toyroom, the Toymaker gloats the Cyril is a sore loser and won't let Steven and Dodo best him, while he uses more of the Doctor's moves, raising him to 932. Meanwhile, Dodo is the first start the game and Steven follows afterwards; the game appears to be unnaturally simple but Cyril introduces the rule that should a triangle be occupied by more than one person, they return to the start and makes other rule up that make the game more difficult for Steven and Dodo. The Doctor continues playing his game and, certain of his victory, allows the Doctor to speak again. Steven eventually gets sick of Cyril making up rules and decides to jump straight to the TARDIS when the Toymaker appears in front of him and blocks his path, saying that the path will only be available to those who play according to the rules. With no choice, they are forced to keep playing. The Toymaker continues to try and break the Doctor's spirit while he concentrates on his game and the Toymaker raises his counter to 1000. Dodo, Steven and Cyril continue to play when Dodo ends up just four places away from the TARDIS. Cyril is forced to go back to 9 and pretends to injure his foot and tricks Dodo into going back to help him when he then tells Dodo to return to the start; however, when Cyril rolls a five and jumps forward, he slips on power on the triangle and falls onto the electrified floor. Rolling a 5, Dodo and Steven make it to home but aren't sure whether it's the real TARDIS. Reaching move 1022, the Doctor's victory is assured and he goes to join his companions by the TARDIS, after gloating in his victory over the Toymaker. As they turn to leave, the Toymaker tries to bait the Doctor on the robot's chest screen and forces him to admit that if he were to be defeated, they may very easily be taken down with him. He then appears in front of them in the flesh and Steven raises to strike him, but the blow is bounced back on himself. The Toymaker offers the power that comes with serving him, but the Doctor dismisses him and steps in the TARDIS, before emerging angrily almost immediately afterwards and accuses him of tampering with the ship. However, the Toymaker reiterates that the Doctor did not complete the game with his 1023rd move, realising that if he made the final move, the Toymaker's realm with disappear, along with everything in it. Returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor explains that the Toymaker is immortal, and every once in a while, he loses a game and he has to construct another realm. The Doctor makes an appeal to the Toymaker over the scanner to bring the game into the TARDIS, but he refuses. Instead, the Doctor has Steven preset the take-off controls and orders the 1023rd move to be made vocal from within the TARDIS at the exact moment he launches it and they escape the Toymaker's world as it's destroyed. He explains to Steven and Dodo that either he or the Toymaker could have made the final move as the Doctor had made the 1022nd, and thus emulated the Toymaker's voice to order the final move the be made. To celebrate their victory, Dodo shares out the sweets she took from Cyril. As soon as the Doctor puts one in his mouth, however; he clutches his jaw and cries out in pain. Cast * Dr. Who - William Hartnell * Steven Taylor - Peter Purves * Dodo Chaplet - Jackie Lane * Toymaker - Michael Gough * Joey the Clown / King of Hearts / Sergeant Rugg - Campbell Singer * Clara the Clown / Queen of Hearts / Mrs. Wiggs - Carmen Silvera * Cyril / Kitchen Boy / Knave of Hearts - Peter Stephens * Joker - Reg Lever * Dancers - Beryl Braham, Ann Harrison, Delia Lindon Crew * Assistant Floor Manager - Elisabeth Dunbar * Choreographer - Tutte Lemkow * Costumes - Daphne Dare * Designer - John Wood * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson * Make-Up - Sonia Markham * Producer - Innes Lloyd * Production Assistant - Snowy White * Script Editor - Gerry Davis * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson * Studio Lighting - Frank Cresswell * Studio Sound - Alan Fogg * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire * Title Music - Ron Grainer References To be added Story notes To be added Broadcast & Ratings Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''The Celestial Toymaker'' page on '''Doctor Who Website